Religion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the peerless Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). This great resource, now at last available in English and Online, Religion Past and Present Online continues the tradition of deep knowledge and authority relied upon by generations of scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies. Including the latest developments in research, Religion Past and Present Online encompasses a vast range of subjects connected with religion.

[German Version] (Jan 25, 1898, Chemnitz – Aug 27, 1955, Locarno). After studying Protestant theology, philosophy, and Near Eastern languages with F. Heiler, E. Troeltsch, and E. Husserl, in 1922 he received his doctorate in religious studies from Leipzig, where he received his habilitation in 1924. In 1930 he received a doctorate in Protestant theology from Heidelberg. In 1935 racial politics forced him to give up his position at Leipzig. He emigrated to the United States, where he taught initial…

[German Version] (Jul 13, 1773, Berlin – Feb 13, 1798, Berlin), German art theorist and writer, whose conception of art made him the forerunner of German Romanticism. At the Gymnasium he attended from 1786 to 1792, he formed a friendship with Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853); while studying law …

[German Version] (Nov 26, 1633, Nuremberg – Oct 9, 1705, Altdorf) received his Dr.phil. from Altdorf in 1665 and was appointed professor of history, law, and Near Eastern languages there in 1668. He published many pioneering translations from the Talmud and discovered Yiddish. After 1654 his contacts with Jewish scholars led him to criticize the status of the Jews. After 1693 he dismissed the charge that Jews engaged in ritual murder. In 1703 he began to sketch a design for peaceful coexistence of…

[German Version] (Aug 19, 1865, Kürenz, near Trier – Oct 17, 1931, Fribourg), musicologist. After training with Michael Hermesdorff at the cathedral in Trier, he studied in Straßburg (Strasbourg) with Gustav Jacobsthal and in Berlin with Heinrich Bellermann and P. Spitta. In 1893 he received his habilitation from Fribourg and taught there as a lecturer; he was appointed associate professor in 1897 and full professor in 1902. In 1920/1921 he served as rector. In 1901 he founded the Gregorian Academ…

[German Version] (May 22, 1813, Leipzig – Feb 13, 1883, Venice). After studying primarily as an autodidact, holding various positions as a conductor, and failing in an attempt to establish himself in Paris as an opera composer, in 1842 Wagner was appointed court conductor in Dresden. His participation in the 1848 Revolution forced him to take refuge in Switzerland. In 1864 King Ludwig II of B…

[German Version] (c. 1510, Kronstadt [Braşov] [?] – Sep 2, 1557, Kronstadt), Humanist and Reformer in Transylvania. After studying in Krakow and Wittenberg (1542/1543, master’s degree in 1554), he continued the work of his teacher J. Honter as rector of a Gymnasium (1544/1545), magistrate (1546) and councilor (1547), city pastor of Kronstadt (1549–1557), dean of the Burzenland (1552), and printer (works of classical authors and German Reformers, a Gk grammar, textbooks, anthologies of poetry for schools, a Ger. …

[German Version] (Sep 8, 1775, Halle an der Saale – Feb 28, 1838, Halle). In 1777 he was appointed assistant at the monastery Unser Lieben Frauen in Halle and in 1786 deacon; from 1809 to 1834 he served as senior pastor and superintendent. In addition he served from 1784 to 1817 as chaplain to the penal workhouse and from 1804 as associate professor of ethics and homiletics at the university. His proposals for reforming the pe…

[German Version] Wahhabis, adherents of a theological school in Sunni Islam (II), founded in the center of the Arabian Peninsula by the Ḥanbalite scholar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdalwahhāb (1703–1792). They originally called themselves
al-muwaḥḥidūn, “affirmers of the singularity of God.” The core of Ibn ʿAbdalwahhāb’s teachings is a more rest…

[German Version] (Aug 21, 1860, Vienna – Sep 10, 1932, Prague), Catholic professor of canon law. After his habilitation in law in Vienna (1889), he was appointed associate professor (1891) and full professor (1894) in Chernivtsi. In 1896 he was appointed to a professorship in the faculty of law at Innsbruck. Wahrmund, who had been noted for his studies on legal history, became really famous in the “Wahrmund affair.” He aggressively asserted the incompatibility of the “Catholic worldview” with mode…

[German Version] (Jan 26, 1657, Blandford Forum, Dorset, England – Jan 24, 1737, London), a clergyman of the Church of England, was a leading ecclesiastical figure in his day. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford (M.A. 1679) and later received the degrees of B.D. and D.D. in 1689. He held numerous offices: preacher at Gray’s Inn, London (1688–1696); canon of Christ Church, Oxford (1689–1702); rector at St. James’s, Westminster (1693–1706); canon residentiary at Exeter Cathedral (1702–1…

[German Version] Walachia, region in southern Romania divided by the Olt into Greater Walachia (Muntenia) and Lesser Walachia (Oltenia). An extension of the Eurasian Steppe, until well into the modern era Walachia was settled by various steppe peoples. In the context of the Danube Bulgarian Empire (Bulgaria), historical sources also mention Orthodox Vlachs/Walachians (Romanians) in Walachia, canonically under Ochrid or Târnovo. In the 12th century, pagan Cumans ruled Walachia; they were evangelize…

[German Version] (c. 807 – Aug 18, 849). Walahfrid, who grew up in poverty and suffered from a visual handicap (Strabo, “the cross-eyed”), was already writing Latin poetry on Reichenau at the age of 15. His first lengthy work was the metrical
Visio Wettini (c. Easter 825). Around 826 he wrote the metrical legends of Blathmac, an Irish king’s son slain by Danish Vikings on the island of Iona, and the Cappadocian martyr Mammas, a Christian Orpheus figure. Around 827 he was relocated to Fulda, where he wrote exegetical works under the influ…

[German Version] (1594/1595, Samada, Tabor region, Ethiopia – Nov 23, 1644, Rema Island, Ethiopia), Ethiopian saint; feast day Nov 23. Walatta Petros is considered a defender of the faith of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and is venerated as a martyr. She received a theological education in school, married Malka Krestos, a confidant of Emperor Susenyos (1607–1632), became a nun around 1620, and fought against Catholic missionaries (Jesuits) and the emperor’s efforts at union with the Roman Church. Her action…

[German Version] (Waldpurga, Walpurgis; c. 710, southern England – Feb 25, 779/790), of the Anglo-Saxon brothers Willibald (bishop of Eichstätt) and Wunibald (abbot of Heidenheim) and related to Boniface. She traveled to the continent in the 830s, possibly with Lioba, and may have lived in Tauber­bischofsheim. After Wunibald’s death, she succeeded him as abbess of the double abbey of Heidenheim, where she encouraged the nun Hugeburc to write the
vitae of Willibald and Wunibald. She preserved the memory of her family by rebuilding churches, gathering the remains o…